Machinist L.C. Robinson works at Automatic Products Corp. in Garland. This is the type of job targeted by the U.S. Department of Labor grants announced today. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan today announced $450 million in job-driven training grants to nearly 270 community colleges across the country, including two in Texas.

Richland College in Dallas received $3.25 million. Texas State Technical College in Waco received nearly $2.4 million.

The funding is part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training program. Such job-driven training partnerships also were identified in Biden’s job-driven training report released in July as an important way to help workers get jobs that pay a middle-class wage.

The community colleges have partnered with more than 400 employers to expand and improve their ability to offer education and career training programs in high-demand industries, such as advanced manufacturing, energy, health care and information technology.

Here are details on the two Texas grants:

* Richland College: It will use the grant to focus on training discharged armed forces veterans enrolled in the Pentagon’s Transitions to Veterans Program and others in advanced manufacturing, mechatronics and electronics manufacturing. The college received additional grant funding to include national partners, such as industry associations, to help design and implement job training based on industry-recognized credentials.

* Texas State Technical College: It will use the grant to focus on manufacturing. The school’s Accelerated Career and Education Pathway Program will provide entry points for the unemployed people and veterans to train for positions as welders, industrial maintenance mechanics and CNC operators/machinists. Participants can receive industry certifications embedded in associate degrees.

Nine manufacturing companies have teamed up with Richland College to provide job training using a $363,550 Skills Development Fund grant from the Texas Workforce Commission.

The grant will provide training to 254 existing workers, including mechanics and production supervisors, to improve quality, efficiency and safety on the job. After the training, those workers will earn an average hourly wage of $23.11.